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Surnames: SCHWIER, Meyer, Stimkaup, Canfield, Sieck, Mestermaker
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/4h.2ADI/1467
Message Board Post:
This book has no cover, and no index, and no author. I bought it on Ebay; it just has the
insides, but it is full of Indiana biographies. I am not researching this family, just
thought I would share. I do not know anymore about these families or these surnames. NOTE:
I don’t know if there is any additional mention of this family in the book, it has no
index. I do not want to sell this book. I am typing the biographies from it.
Typed by Lora Radiches:
Surnames in this biography are: SCHWIER, Meyer, Stimkaup, Canfield, Sieck, Mestermaker,
WILLIAM HENRY SCHWIER, JR. The manufacturing interests of a section of a country are
exceedingly important and their healthy growth an indication of public prosperity.
Directly connected with this growth are the men whose knowledge, judgment, foresight and
energy are necessary in the organization and maintenance of these enterprises. Capital
with no wise directing hand would be useless and the results of unregulated effort would
be unsubstantial. William Henry Schwier, Jr., general manager of the Western Furniture
Company, has won his way, step by step, through the different departments of the business,
and through industry, natural aptitude and persevering effort has continued with this same
concern, through the different changes in ownership, since he was seventeen years old.
The birth of William Henry Schwier, Jr., occurred in Ripley County, Indiana, in 1877, and
he is a son of William Henry Schwier, Sr., a native of Germany, who came direct to Ripley
County from German!
y, in 1865. In early life he was a contractor and builder, and filled his contracts with
the sturdy honesty so characteristic of his countrymen. His standing in his community is
evidenced by the fact that for many years he was elected to membership on the local school
board by his fellow citizens. In 1890 he, with others, incorporated the Western Furniture
Company, Incorporated, with him as treasurer and general manager. Subsequently he became
president of the company, and continued with it until 1922, when he sold his interest and
retired. A man of great strength of character, a born leader and splendid business man,
he was connected with numerous enterprises, among others the Batesville Bank, of which he
was an organizer and one of the original stock-holders. He married Miss Louise Meyer, of
Franklin County, Indiana, and they had three children born to them, namely: Mary, who died
in 1896; William Henry, Jr., whose name heads this review; and Hattie, who married Herman
St!
imkaup. His actual school attendance limited to a few years in the rural district,
William Henry Schwier, Jr., decided upon a business rather than a professional career, and
when seventeen years old entered the shop of the Western Furniture Company. In spite of
the fact that his father was one of the leading factors in this concern, the youth
received no favors, but was treated like any other employee of his age, and went through
all of the departments, being promoted entirely according to merit, which brought him, in
1896, to the position of head of the clerical department, and one of his associates, the
book-keeper, was Harry Canfield. The next promotion of young Schwier was to the position
of manager of the company, and, in 1905 he and his father purchased the interests of the
other stockholders, and Harry Canfield was retained as sales manager. In the meanwhile
there were changes both in this concern and the furniture industry, and many mergers were
formed so as to bet!
ter control production and sales territory, and prevent a surplus, which would affect both
manufacturers and employees unfavorably. In 1922 Congressman Canfield purchased the
interests of the elder and younger William Henry Schwiers, and the latter was retained as
general manager, which position he is still effectively filling. When the elder man
organized the Western Furniture Company, in 1890, a specialty was made of bedroom
furniture, and the plant had 10,000 square feet of floor space, while employment was given
to twenty men. Today the plant covers 50,000 square feet of floor space, and employment is
given to seventy-five people. It is equipped throughout with a sprinkler system,
modern machinery, and is one of the models of its kind in the state. Shipment of the
product is trade to the Eastern and Central states an he capacity of the plant is three
carloads per week, or 175 carloads per year. Mr. Schwier is a member of the Batesville
Chamber of Commerce, and th!
e Western Furniture Company is a member of the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce, as well
as of the local Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Schwier is a director of the Batesville Bank, and
he and Senator Canfield are members of the Batesville Memorial Board. Mrs. Schwier was
before marriage Emma Sieck, born at Batesville, where she and Mr. Schwier were married,
and two children have been born to them: Wilbur, who married Doris Mestermaker, and is a
business man of Aurora, Indiana; and Russell, who is in the accounting department of the
Western Furniture Company. A high Mason, Mr. Schwier belongs to Batesville Lodge No. 668,
A. F. and A. M.; Milan Chapter No. 32, R. A. M; the Consistory at Indianapolis; and Murat
Temple, A. A. 0. N. M. S., of Indianapolis. During the World war he was active in
different drives for the sale of war securities, and did everything within his power to
assist the administration in carrying out its policies. Mr. Schwier is a man who firmly
believes that g!
reater attention should be given to the proper training of the youth of the country and
the inculcation in them of rigid principles of old fashioned honesty and integrity,
whether with individuals or corporations, a proper respect for age, law and order, and the
rooting out from their minds the idea that the acquisition of money is the only thing
worth a life’s striving.